Saturday, 27 August 2011

Horror Review: Insidious (2011)

A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further.James Wan (of SAW fame) is a breath of fresh air in the Horror genre. He has original ideas and though you see influences of old horror films he uses them without ripping them off. which is clear in "Insidious" where there is a clear influence of the Tobe Hooper classic "Poltergeist".

Now that the SAW franchise has come to and, Wan is able to focus on other projects and "Insidious" is a hopefully a sign of things to come. Yes it's cheesy at times, but it's also atmospheric and so well written that you can forgive him for it.
The character of Renai Lambert (played by Rose Byrne) is a character you can't help but feel for & you feel her pain & fear. The casting of Lin Shaye as Elise Reiner (who I couldn't help but think was a modern characterisation of Zelda Rubinstein's Tangina Barrons) was casting genius! She brings so much to the film and in my eyes is a very under-rated actress.

If you enjoy film's about the paranormal this is for you, I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait to see what James Wan will bring us in the future.

When Josh is dismissing his class, director James Wan's name can be seen on the blackboard, underlined twice.

The mask Elise puts on to enter the world of dreams is the same as the mask used by the the Sandman, the master of dreams, in the comic book series of the same name, created by Neil Gaiman.

When Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson) is dismissing his class, you can see the names 'Yesim Osman' and Leslie Borchard written on the chalkboard above the picture a clown. Leslie Borchard was a hair stylist for this film, and Yesim Osman was the hair department head.